Evil Dead

Hey, it ain't just the Tanaka boys who are psyched that developer Heavy Iron is giving Sam Raimi's Evil Dead flicks the survival-horror-game treatment. Even the boomstick-wielding main man himself thinks the whole experience is gonna be groovy. "It's fun to play the same character without having to be covered in blood and go through all that nightmare," said Bruce Campbell, who's reprising his role as average-Joe-turned-bloodsoaked-hero Ash for this PlayStation and Dreamcast game. "I can sit in a nice, clean, air-conditioned booth and go, 'Ooh! Ah! Ow! Oh!' instead of actually having to be there."

Heavy Iron and publisher THQ have enlisted the aid of both Campbell and Raimi to tweak the game's script for the hardcore fans. After all, nobody knows Evil Dead better than these guys. Dead-heads should expect an authentic Ash experience. "Rather than doing a character that's sort of like Ash, I'm actually going to be Ash," said Campbell--who has done the voice of Pitfall Harry and other game characters. "A lot of times when I do the other games, people are like, 'Well, you should have sort of an attitude like Ash, but not Ash.' So I try not to cough up all the old lines. I save them for this."

So why is it a must-get game?

With weapons, deadites, locations--even the wild camera style--yanked from all three movies, who wouldn't want to come get some when Evil Dead hits this Halloween?